www.fueloilnews.com | FUEL OIL NEWS | JULY 2015 45
HVAC/ HYDRONICS
hose starts to have white smoke coming out of it, you didn't fill the
pump and it's burning up, ooooops! The old timers used motor oil
to start and prime new pumps on stubborn jobs and as usual they
were right, more lubrication and viscosity. By the way, the motor
oil will get flushed out during the bleed so don't worry about burn-
ing it. By the way it does burn!
Open the inlet valve and watch what comes through the bleeder
for several minutes. Normally if this was a tune-up you would see
some oil, then a lot of bubbles and then air free oil. Once it's bled
out, close the bleeder with the pump running and you've now done
a "power vacuum bleed". I've used this method for a lot of years
and I can get even the most troublesome jobs to work.
A lot of people will tell you overhead lines won't work, that's
just bull___ or the ranting of a complete moron!
That fact is it's just a siphon if you think about it. If the oil tank
level is at or higher than the pump, Figure 6, it has to work, that's
physics, but bleeding the system this way and using the correct
size tubing for your oilburner supply line makes the pump work
a lot easier.
Finally, some of the same people will also tell you that oil safety
valves don't work, unh-hunh! If you have gravity flow an OSV
will work, if you have a pure lift job, you don't need one. There
are some basic guidelines for the proper
use of the OSV, Figure 7, and all of them
come from the people who make and
approve them. If you bleed ALL your
pumps using a "power vacuum bleed"
you will have a lot less problems bleed-
ing any pump with any type of piping
configuration in any condition. It's simply the best way to do it
because since the 1960s when the bleeder came out and replaced
the plug, it's been the way OEMs have wanted it done!
See ya!
*George Lanthier is the owner of Firedragon Academy, a
Massachusetts Certified School teaching both gas and oil. Firedragon
Academy now has facilities in Massachusetts and Connecticut for
teaching both their gas and oil "hands-on" schools and seminars.
Firedragon is also a publishing firm publishing George's over 60
books and manuals on gas and oil heating and HVAC subjects. He is
a CETP, NATE, NORA, PMAA and PMEF Proctor and has been a
Massachusetts Certified Instructor since 1975. He can be reached at
608 Moose Hill Road, Leicester, MA 01524. His phone is 508-421-
3490 and his website can be found at FiredragonEnt.com
Figure 7
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